Dust collecting device



April 1942- F. A. KUMNICK 2,281,313.

DUST COLLECTING DEVICE vFiled April 23, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 u A; a 0 4 Q l i INVENTORA Wan/V A. K117777710]! BY 9 M4 we 7% ATTORNEYS FQQA, KUMNICK Filed April 23, 1940 I l EEEW lm- DUST COLLECTING DEVICE 2 Sheefts-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS INVENTOR FTdflA Patented Apr. 28, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,281,313 DUST COLLECTING DEVICE Frank A. Kumnick, Bridgeport, Conn. Application April 23, 1940, Serial No. 331,175

2 Claims.

The present invention relates to dust-collecting means for machines.

Heretofore when it was desired to remove dust from grinding, polishing or buffing machines, a hood was disposed over the b-ufiing wheel and was spaced sufiiciently above the buifing wheel so as not to interfere with operations performed by the wheel. This required a fan capable of moving large volumes of air in order to remove the dust and dirt from the machine.

With collectors of this type, however, heavy particles of dirt and dust would not be removed by the hood and would fall on the machine and the floor surrounding the machine and make working conditions very unsatisfactory in that they were very dirty Many employers refused to place female labor on such machines because of the dirty conditions and were forced to employ male labor at higher wages to operate the machines even though the work was light enough to be performed by female help.

Also, with dust collectors of the hood type, it was impossible to use automatic rouge-applying mechanisms because of the spreading around of the excess rouge.

These difficulties have been overcome by the present invention in which the dust collector encloses the entire machine.

The preferred form of the invention is applied to automatic bufiing machines having one as possible, escape of dust.

The chamber surrounding the machine may vary in size according to the needs. In the preferred form of the invention, the chamber extends sufiiciently above the machine to permit 55 an employee to have access to the same for the purpose of adjusting or otherwise attending the machine.

The exhaust fan for removing the dust is connected to the chamber by means of ducts which are provided with nozzles located adjacent the floor of the chamber. The lighter dust will be sucked out of the air through the nozzle and exhaust while the heavy dust will be deposited upon the floor within the chamber. This heavy dust can be periodically swept to the nozzle and withdrawn from the chamber by the exhaust system.

The chamber can be provided with openings adjacent the operator's position through which the progress of the work can be observed. These openings can be formed as a part of the casing and may or may not be provided with covers for closing said openings.

Inasmuch as the working stations. are completely enclosed, automatic rouge-applying means can be readily used with the bufling wheels and thus render the machines more fully automatic.

It will be apparent that with the dust and dirt thus confined so completely in the chamber enclosing the machine, the station in which the work is applied to the spindles will be relatively clean, and female labor can be readily used to operate the machine.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the specification and claims when considered in connection with the drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a front elevational view of the machine enclosed in the dust collector of the present invention.

Fig. 2 shows a horizontal sectional view through the machine, taken along lines 2-2 of Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the machine, taken along lines 3-3 of Figure 1.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 of another form of the invention.

As is shown in the drawings, the present invention is illustrated as being adapted to operate on work carried by the spinclles on the turntable.

According to the present invention, thedirt 2. produced incident to the operation of the buffin machine or the like will be confined to the chamber and will not deposit over the shop surrounding the machine as was the case with prior hoodtype constructions.

The casing, in the illustrated form of the invention, is of sufiicient size and height to enable a mechanic or maintenance man to enter the chamber through a door l and adjust the bulling wheels or otherwise attend the machine when necessary.

To enable the work to be applied to the spindles, the device of the present invention is provided at the front of the machine with an operators station formed by inwardly extending walls. l6, I! so that they project over a portion of the turntable and are joined at their inner ends by a wall I3 and covered at the top by a wall l9 hinged at its forward edge at Ma for the pur pose to be described.

This construction enables the operator of the machine to have access to the work-supporting spindles on the turntable which move through openings 2| in the walls It and I1. These openings are relatively small and normally would not permit much dust to escape. If desired, however, the device can be'provided with adjustable covers 22 for such openings having elongate transverse slots 23 therein by which they can be adjusted so as to provide an opening which will permit the spindles and the work carried thereby to pass through the side walls with a minimum of clearance. The plates are locked in. position by wing nuts 24. threaded on bolts.

The operator of the operators station, is completely protected against dust and dirt from the machine and has complete control over the machine inasmuch as the control panel 25 for the machine is positioned at the station, as shown in Figure 1. He can stop and start the buffin wheels at the work stations, and rotate the turntable as required.

After the machine has been set up and the buffing wheels properly adjusted bythe mechanic, the operator at the operator's station starts the machine from the control panel, and as the spindles pass before him will remove unfinished pieces from a supply (not shown) which he usually supports on a ledge 28 formed on the front of the machine and places them on the ingoingspindles and removes the finished pieces from the outgoing spindles. i

In order that progress of the work as it moves around on the turntable, I have provided a 21, one in each side panel i6, i1 and one in the cover member l9, which may or may not be provided with closures. As herein illustrated, these openings have closures 2B slidable in ways 29. The openings can be maintained open throughout th operation of the machine, or the operator can open them periodically to view the interior of the chamber to be sure that the work is progressing properly from work station to work station. If desired, the interior of the chamber can be illuminated, as by a lamp lila mounted within the chamber.

If for some reason it is necessary to adjust a workpiece on a spindle as it moves with th turntable, the cover member l9, which is hinged at the front of the machine, can be raised and locked by a latch |9b in raised position while the operator reaches in and adjusts the, work on the spindle;

the machine, as he stands in O the operator may watch-the plurality of openings In order to remove the dust confined in the chamber, the present invention provides ducts 3| leading from a suitable exhaust fan, not shown, and passing into the chamber and secures nozzles 32 to these ducts so that they are located adjacent the floor or lower surface of the chamber.

Since the machine is entirely enclosed, a smaller exhaust fan will be required to remove the dust from the machine, as it will not be necessary to move the volume of air heretofore necessary when the hood type of dust collector was used which requires a large volume of air to draw the dirt and dust away from the machine.

During the bufling operation, the lighter dust will be suspended in the air and will be drawn off by the exhaust fan as it removes the air from the chamber. The heavy dirt and dust will settle on the floor of the chamber but will not escape therefrom. This can be removed from the chamber periodically by the maintenance man sweeping this deposit of heavy dust and dirt to the nozzles which, being located close to the floor, will enable the suction to pick it up and carry it away through the ducts so that the system eliminates substantially all dirt and dust being taken from or escaping from the chamber other than through the ducts leading therefrom. This makes a more efiicient dust collector than heretofore known.

In the form of the-invention shown in Fig. 4, the end wall IB and the sloping top l9 have been eliminated and the inwardly extending side walls are carried toward the center of the turntable and extend at the full height of the chamber. This construction may be used where it is not necessary to completely enclose the machine, and the operator is required to frequently adjust the workpieces on the spindles. The chamber formed in this manner will require a slightly larger exhaust fan as it will be required to move more air due to the fact that the space between the side walls is left open, but this will still be much less than required for the hood-type collector.

A feature of the present invention, resulting from the machines being completely enclosed, is that automatic rouge-applying mechanism can be used with the buffing wheels. This is diagrammatically illustrated at 34 in Fig. 2. All of the excess rouge willbe confined to the chamber and will be carried away by the exhaust means and will not in any way interiere with the operation. of the machine or cause objectionable dust and dirt about the operator's station as has been the case when a hood, disposed above the machine, wasused.

While the present invention has been described as a chamber completely enclosing the machine, with the exception of the portion projecting into the operator station, it is to be understood that instead of enclosing the entire machine, each of the work stations can be completely enclosed, with the exception of the openings therein through which work on the turntable and spindles pass, and adjacent the lower surface of such enclosure whereby the dust and heavy dirt will be withdrawn as well as the light dust suspended in the air.

Variations and modifications may be made within the scope of this invention and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

I claim:

1. The combination with a buffing machine providing suction means or the like having a turntable provided with a plurality of Work-carrying means and one or more work stations having means operating on the Work carried by the means, of a dust collector comprising a plurality of walls surrounding the machine and extending from above the machine to the floor supporting the machine and a cover connecting the upper ends of the wall to form a chamber substantially enclosing the machine, one of the walls of said chamber being disposed in front of the machine and having a part thereof extending inwardly over the turntable and forming a reentrant chamber to provide an operators station in which the operator has access to the work carrying means on the turntable to supply and remove work therefrom, said walls protecting the operator from the dust and dirt from the machine and having a closure therein movable to an open position wherein the work at the work stations can be viewed by the operator; and common means connected to an exhaust means for removing the dust-laden air and heavy dirt from the floor of said chamber.

2. The combination with a buffing machine 25 Or the like having a turntable provided with a plurality of work-carrying means and one or more work stations having means operating on the work carried by the means, of a dust collector comprising a plurality of walls surrounding the machine and extending from above the machine to the floor supporting the machine and a cover connecting the upper ends of the wall to form a chamber substantially enclosing the machine, one of the walls of said chamber being disposed in front of the machine and having a part thereof extending inwardly over the turntable and forming a reentrant chamber to provide an operators station in which the operator has access to the work-carrying means on the turntable to supply and remove work therefrom, said walls having work-receiving openings and means for adjusting the openings including sliding plates whereby the operator is protected from the dust and dirt from the machine and having a closure therein movable to an open position wherein the work at the work stations can be viewed by the operator; and common means connected to an exhaust means for removing the dust-laden air and heavy dirt from the floor of said chamber.

FRANK A. KUMNICK. 

